The last few weeks, in this newspaper, I have made an attempt to expose what is truly going on in the foreclosure process, and how it ties back to a myriad of other systematic issues affecting our daily lives. Last week, we touched on the fact that the court system is incentivized directly by the Banks that have caused this crisis. But I would be remiss if I did not mention the Foreclosure and Economic Recovery Plan, aka the “Rocket Docket.” In FY 10 -11, our legislature, (clearly influenced by the Banking lobby) devised the Rocket Docket to appoint retired Judges to reduce the backlog (grease the skids) of foreclosure cases by 62 percent during the fiscal year. You might note that appointed retired Judges do not face the scrutiny of elections.

Mortgage Fraud

Freddie Mac
Marshall C. Watson Law Firm

Action Date: March 12, 2011
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“Freddie Mac”) announced on March 11, 2011, that it is taking its foreclosure cases away from the Marshall C. Watson Law Firm. The Watson firm, based in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, was one of the firms most often used by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and mortgage-backed trusts to foreclose in Florida. The Watson Firm came under the scrutiny of the Economic Crimes Division of the Florida Attorney General for improper loan documentation and foreclosure practices.

In over ten thousand Florida foreclosure cases, the Watson firm used mortgage assignments signed by the firm’s own employees to prove that their clients owned the mortgages. In most of these cases, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and mortgage-backed trusts were claiming to own the mortgages. Fannie, Freddie and the trusts lost or never obtained the mortgage assignments needed to prove ownership.

In these cases, two associate lawyers in the Watson firm, Patricia Arango and Caryn Graham, signed the Assignments to the trusts so that the foreclosures could proceed. When Arango and Graham signed these mortgage assignments, they did not disclose that they were lawyers in the Watson Firm. Instead, Arango and Graham signed as officers of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.

In the last three years, Arango and Graham signed as officers of the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., as Nominee for the following lenders on over 10,000 documents used in Florida foreclosures:

On the majority of these documents, the date of the alleged transaction is falsely stated. The documents were so poorly prepared that in many cases, the new owner is shown to have acquired the mortgage months and even years AFTER the foreclosure cases were filed by those new mortgage owners.

The Watson Firm was also the law firm that most frequently used mortgage assignments prepared by Docx, LLC. The assignments from Docx, LLC include thousands of documents with forged signatures of Linda Green, Tywanna Thomas and Korell Harp, as well as dozens of documents where the lenders were identified as “Bogus Assignee” and “A Bad Bene.” These Docx-prepared assignments also falsely stated the dates of the alleged transfers, and even the authority of the signers to sign on behalf of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.

Despite the well-documented problems with foreclosure cases brought by the Watson Firm, Fannie Mae has not removed the firm from its list of approved law firms. Fannie Mae removed Florida firm Ben-Ezra & Katz in February, 2011, and required the firm to transfer over 15,000 files. Fannie also removed The Law Offices of David J. Stern in Plantation, Florida. That firm announced that it would stop doing all foreclosure work as of March 31, 2011.

No criminal charges have been filed in any case involving forged or fraudulent loan documents used by banks and mortgage lenders to foreclose.

While courts have been critical of such documents and have added requirements to civil procedure rules so that law firms can be sanctioned for using such documents, no sanction has ever included any criminal charges.

4 Q. You contend that Exhibit 1 is the document
5 that authorizes you to sign on behalf of Countrywide Home
6 Loans Servicing LP?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Okay. How so?
9 A. Countrywide Financial Corporation
10 actually — let me correct myself.
11 The plaintiff, as listed in this particular
12 case, is owned by Countrywide Financial Corporation.
13 It’s one of their entities.
14 Q. Okay. And how do you come to that
15 information?
16 A. Because I know it. I’ve been doing it for
17 a long time. I’ve — I don’t remember at what point in
18 time I found out that knowledge, but I’ve had it.
19 Q. Okay. Now, is Countrywide Home Loans
20 Servicing LP, to your knowledge, a separate corporate
21 entity from Countrywide Financial Corporation?
22 A. I don’t know.

<SNIP>

1 Q. And was that the situation back in December
2 of 2008 when you executed the assignment?
3 A. Yes.4 Q. Okay. At that time, who was the owner of
5 the beneficial interest in the mortgage?
6 A. The beneficial interest in the note was
7 held by Fannie Mae. The interest in the mortgage was as
8 to, arguably, the interest in the mortgage was both
9 entities, the plaintiff and the Fannie Mae.10 Q. Do you have any documents establishing your
11 authority to execute any assignments on behalf of Fannie
12 Mae?
13 A. Did I bring them? What? Say that again.
14 Sorry.15 Q. Do you have any documents indicating your
16 authority to execute assignments on behalf of Fannie Mae?
17 A. I don’t know.18 Q. Fannie Mae — excuse me.
19 The mortgage is to secure the note, right?
20 A. The mortgage follows the note, yes.21 Q. Okay. And if Fannie Mae has the note, they
22 have to transfer or assign their interest in that note —
23 MR. ROSENQUEST: Object to form.
24 BY MR. FLANAGAN:25 Q. — to someone else.

<SNIP>

20 Q. Okay. Does the name R.K. Arnold mean
21 anything to you?
22 A. No.23 Q. Do you know Mr. Arnold, who is the
24 president of MERS?
25 A. No.1 Q. You never heard of him?
2 A. No.3 Q. If he stated that in order to be a
4 certifying officer and sign an assignment on behalf of
5 MERS somebody needed to pass and complete an examination,
6 is that something that is familiar to you?
7 A. It’s not familiar to me, no. I don’t know.8 Q. Okay. That was not something that you had
9 to do.
10 A. I did not do that.11 Q. Okay. And if he’s saying that, if that was
12 a rule or a qualification, that was something that was
13 not made known to you.

Before you go to the deposition, take a look at R. K. Arnold’s reply to one of Senator Brown’s questions on the hearing for “Problems in Mortgage Servicing From Modification to Foreclosure” on November 15, 2010.